The noise was so loud, as if you were “standing next to Niagara Falls” – this is how fire department commander Thorsten Rehkamper acoustically perceived the massive gas leak late Tuesday afternoon in the center of Neuried. The noise could be heard up to a distance of 400 meters, and the gas was seen as wafting in the air.
It was a large-scale operation, to which Rehkamper’s Neuried volunteer fire brigade, colleagues from Planegg, the police and rescue services also responded. Buildings were evacuated, including the music and elementary schools, and apartments had to be forced open to get around 60 people out of the danger zone. The exit from the Gaus was only stopped about two hours after the first alarm at 4:37 p.m. And it turned out that the processes for such a catastrophe can still be optimized.
During construction work at the bus stop on Münchner Strasse, a gas shut-off valve was torn off by an excavator shovel while removing curb concrete. In the center of town, there was a clear smell of gas, Rehkamper described the situation on Wednesday. But only gradually did the danger become apparent: a “warm gas fountain” flowed out of a 28-bar high-pressure natural gas pipeline belonging to the Munich municipal utility, as Rehkamper puts it.
Communication between the fire brigade forces was made more difficult because no radio was allowed to be used at the scene of the accident due to the risk of explosion. The measured values and the further procedure had to be discussed personally. Nevertheless, it quickly became clear that buildings had to be evacuated, and gas leakage into apartments could not be ruled out. Rehkamper reports on a car that stopped at the red traffic light in the center of town and could no longer start because there was no oxygen in the area for the automatic start-stop system.
During construction work, an excavator damaged a high-pressure gas line.
(Photo: Neuried Volunteer Fire Department)
The evacuation was carried out in two deployment sections within a radius of 100 meters around the accident site. The Planegg volunteer fire brigade was responsible for the elementary and music school, the kindergarten and the old town hall. The Neuried firefighters had to cope with the larger task in the second section. Equipped with breathing apparatus, they violently broke open 20 apartments in the building complex on the corner of Münchner Strasse and Forstenrieder Strasse in the immediate danger area. For safety reasons, the electrically operated bells should not be operated. According to Rehkamper, there was a risk of explosion.
In some cases, people first had to be persuaded to leave their homes, said Rehkamper, noting that they were not aware of the danger. About ten children were brought from a creative workshop in the building complex through the windows into the inner courtyard and from there to the assembly point of the volunteer fire brigade at Floriansbogen. Business owners across the street were also advised to vacate their businesses. The gas guard of Stadtwerke München took over the technical part of the hazard protection. At a point beyond the accident area, pressure was released from the gas line via an inspection opening. According to Rehkamper, the escaped gas flowed safely into the atmosphere at high altitudes.
The mayor is stopped twice by the police and has trouble identifying himself
There was criticism, among other things, on social media channels about the supposedly late notification of the population. People felt that a message was only sent out via the Katwarn digital civil protection warning system a good hour and a half after the siren sounded. Rehkamper corrects this time: About an hour has passed between the first alarm and the warning message. “I think that’s appropriate.” It was a challenge to assess the risk situation, it was not clear from the start that the population could be at risk.
In view of the fact that the municipalities are currently checking civil protection processes more intensively in view of a possible power blackout, Rehkamper is satisfied. Above all, the communication with those responsible for the community worked well. Both mayors were there immediately, as was the community’s fire protection specialist, who was able to pass on information about the closure to the population.
Mayor Harald Zipfel (SPD), on the other hand, sees potential for optimization. On the way from the town hall to the scene of the accident, he was stopped several times by the police and they didn’t want to let him through. He should prove his status as mayor. He even showed e-mail histories on the company cell phone. “It’s good that we were able to play through that.” According to Zipfel, in the event of a disaster, those responsible in the community absolutely need safety vests with inscriptions that indicate responsibility.